amalgamation
by Aiko Isari
Summary: Uchiha Saori knows her dues, the dues of being born to power. But her betrothed calls her by a different name, expects different things. She's pretty sure he's the insane one here. AU. Many AUs in one
1. Chapter 1

_Warnings: Sexism, isolation, alternate universe and gender swap, harmful to minors._

* * *

 _One - Duty_

Uchiha Saori is four when her father tells her that she must provide an heir when she grows up.

This isn't surprising in the least. It's not even because she's a girl, like her grandmother says it is. Her brother, Uchiha Itachi, is a model _shinobi_ , a shining example of the clan and their power. He kills with precision and takes few risks. However, he's not good with children, and he is always being called into battle for some reason or another. Saori, being his sister, can attest to his failure with children. Even young, she recognizes when someone is clumsy and too withdrawn. He pokes too hard, she tells her mother every once in awhile. Her mother laughs it off but doesn't deny it. Though the lines of her eyes are hard and sad every time she looks at her daughter after that proclamation. The Hidden Village is populous but too small. Always too small.

Saori takes to the duty because she doesn't know any differently. She is four and throws _kunai_ with limited success. She expects to do better with time, for the few years she will be allowed to fight. She is four and reads better than her brother ever did. She has a lot of time to read.

Nothing really changes. She practices standing for battle and hiding in plain sight. She plays with her fellow children and stops squabbles without making noise. She climbs her brother's back while he's working and he tolerates it because she doesn't talk when she does. She just watches him until she falls asleep and that's when he knows how to be tender.

"Papa wants me to have a family," she tells him one day, forgetting to be properly respectful.

Itachi doesn't look up from his report. "He told me. I disagreed."

Saori tilts her head. Why disagree with their father?

"You ought to be given the choice, don't you think so?"

Saori chews her lip. "What if I want to?"

Itachi laughs and looks at her and a part of her more than anything wants him to never stop. "Do you want to?"

Saori pauses to pretend to think it over. Then she nods. "I want to do something you can't."

Itachi pokes her in the forehead. "That's not a reason to have children, Saori."

Saori pouts. It is to her.

* * *

Saori is five years old when she is told she will be arranged to be married.

 _Pair the spares_ goes whispered over her head as she walks through the compound, kimono fabric in the basket above shuriken. She thinks nothing of this, as she is five and heavy implications still go over her head so readily. It makes her mother scowl and finger the senbon she hides in places that Saori cannot even hope to guess.

"Are they making fun of me?" It's hard to imagine the kind aunts and uncles and elders teasing her the way Haruno Sakura gets teased for looking at her and for her somewhat large forehead. (It's really not that big, she just needs to frame her hair differently.)

Her mother pauses, preparing to say no, she assumes. Then something settles in her eyes. "They are."

"Why?" Saori doesn't hesitate to disbelieve her mother, even if she doesn't want to think wrong of her elders. Her black hair falls back over her eyes as she looks down at her sandals.

Her mother sighs. "I would tell you if I knew."

Saori pretends she isn't trying to chew her lip. Her mother is lying. She sighs before she lies like that, about big things. She hears it when Father wants her to go to the doctor for a test. She never does. Saori thinks it's a birth test. They want another boy, one who will admire her brother, one who will hide her from view.

Her mother doubts they will have one. Two is enough, she always says.

Saori wonders if two is. But that's not important now.

She doesn't know another will come. She doesn't know the future. What a relief.

What Saori asks out loud instead is, "Will my new husband be nice?" Because unless he dies in battle, or breaks the contract, she will wed a Hyuuga boy, one of the ones close to the heiress. She needs to know if he will be nice to her.

Her mother heaves a real sigh and replies with a simple, I don't know.

Saori mimics her and pretends the not-knowing isn't as scary.

* * *

Seventy-two hours before she joins the Ninja Academy, she wakes up to dress in her most beautiful kimono. It takes what feels like hours, especially with her mother's hands guiding her to do pieces herself. It feels clumsy, inaccurate, _wrong._ She knows in her stomach that she must not be _wrong._ This may be the only chance she has.

(Even though she is an Uchiha and will be a _kunoichi_ , it matters not because she knows in her toes that she is reduced somehow is value. Just as the whispers say.)

Her palms are wet with sweat. Her mother wipes them and smiles.

"All will be well," she tells her daughter. Saori smiles a thin blank line. She is still only five, but she understands what she is doing. Not enough, but she knows it is significant. Her brother had taught her the meaning of that. Important, vital, or something like that.

"I will make it that way," she declares.

She is met with tinkling laughter that eases her heart as she finishes getting dressed.

Father meets them at the front door. Itachi is there as well, and his dark eyes are almost brown with fear and worry. It belies the uniform he wears, armor gleaming in the sunlight like it's never been used. Saori knows it has been. She looks with them all, unsure of whose hand to take. Will she have to walk on her own into this?

Then Itachi's larger hand takes hold of hers. She looks up at him, and the sockets crinkle into a smile.

"Together," he encourages.

Saori smiles shyly, feeling her fear fade. He supports her. Her big brother, the best big brother and the worst at being one, still cares. That's enough, it has to be.

The two of them walk.

(Years later, she will realize the implications of a brother giving a sister away, but she doesn't. Not yet.)

When they reach the following compound, she shudders. Chakra, heavy, pulsing, a network like a spider's web that reaches into the soul and to the root. Saori tightens her grip on her brother's hand. The Hyuga compound looms with power.

Itachi's voice breaks her from her stupor. "Ready?" Maybe he notices it, or maybe because he's so strong, he doesn't notice anymore.

Saori straightens. She will be as strong as him in this, if nothing else. "Ready."

He tugs once and she follows.

Once she looks around, it's clear that there is a difference, a separation. Some houses are more beautiful than others, some are more simplistic. Some are muted. Separation. Isolation.

Maybe it's just that they aren't Uchiha, but the alienation, the cleanliness of the streets, it's chilly for a flame.

Like her home, people stare at them as they walk, though it's definitely for a different reason. It takes everything in Saori's body to look ahead and not try to hide her eyes.

No wonder Hyuga Hinata-chan has an imaginary friend with such a bright personality.

The main house is lavish compared to everything else they have walked past. Saori frowns. There's no doubt that this is a main family home. Even the Uchiha main family house, though warm and cozy and _special_ because it's her own, is hard to tell apart if you don't know the layout of the compound.

This one is not.

They are met by one Hyuga of many. Like the Uchiha, they tend to blur to together for strangers. Itachi lets go of her hand, and he looks sickened at the idea, almost green. She smiles at him, calling upon his battle-courage and father's strong jaw and mother's easy smile. She turns away from him, walking ahead to remove her _shoes_. They pat her down, searching for weapons. Why would they worry? Advance training means next to nothing when you were surrounded by people who could wreck your chakra, possibly for life.

The woman smiles at her, the expression bitter and angry. For what reason, Saori can't figure out. Instead she only flushes and looks away, nerves taking command for precious seconds. It's enough to soften the lines of the face and let the woman relax.

What strange people. She is no better than they are.

The meeting room has steaming cups of tea and soft cushions. She remains standing, listening for her brother's heavier footsteps as they pass the room. Saori keeps her eyes fixed on the other side of the door. She twitches but refuses to sit. Her first action must be proof of her loyalty, of her acceptance of the fate given to her.

It's that or be dragged kicking and screaming, and she cannot be seen like that. That's not an Uchiha.

So she waits, squirms without shame despite not wanting to. She waits until the door on the other side of the room opens and Hyuuga Neji walks in alone.

She does not shudder in fear of him. He is only a six year old boy. Sure, he's been to the Academy and training for a year, but he is no more ready than her, as far as she knows. Yet he looks at her so heavy, like she is a boulder he intends to break with a single move. Saori waits until the door closes, watches the brow crease underneath the headband. Confusion, she reads. Anger, heavy. Fear. Derision.

He used to not be like this, apparently. He used to be much brighter. Saori doesn't know much, but her parents' discussion had promoted worry and fear. That his anger would bring her harm. Saori doubts it. She may not know why he isn't the cheerful little boy he had been once, but he has to know the danger of breaking a pact between powerful clans. She hopes.

With that in mind, the second the door closes, she lets out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Saori steps forward then to the side, until her small body consumed his vision. Saori bows. "It is nice to meet you, Hyuga-sama," she recites, as her father had made her. "I offer myself to you in greeting, as well as the ribbons about my wrist to bind us." She moves to her knees, then lower until her face is bent to the floor with the ribbons, identical green, are visible on her wrists.

Silence reigns.

Then after endless moments, he speaks, his high, childish voice almost comical against the sternness of his words. "Why do you kneel before me, Uchiha Sasuke?"

Saori freezes with fear. Is he crazy? Sasuke is a boy's name, a shinobi's powerful countenance. "I beg your pardon," she utters, remembering manners.

"The Uchiha clan head of my memory did not have a daughter." His voice is somewhat steady, but ears taught to hear recognize the wavering. "Are you pretending to be a girl in this life, Uchiha Sasuke?"

Pride flares with anger in her face and she lifts herself up from the floor. "My name," she says softly, but firmly. "Is Uchiha Saori. I am the second child of Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Fugaku. To consider me as any other is a grave insult, Hyuga-sama. Perhaps your memories, if I may, are quite muddled. If there is anyone who will be Uchiha Sasuke, I assure you, they would not be standing here."

His eyes narrow, not widen. Saori stares him right in the eye.

Then, before her, Hyuga Neji seems to crumble. He sinks to the floor, horror filling his face.

"Where am I?" he says to no one. "What is this place?"

* * *

 ** _A/N:_ ** wow it's been... quite a bit since I dove into this fandom. But, well, here we go! Requested by my friend Miyako, hope you like it bro. I'm not sure how far into the actual canon timeline we'll go into, if we go at all. But input is appreciated! Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

_Warnings for angst, past death, time travel, and again arranged marriage._

* * *

 _Two - Failure_

Hyuuga Neji died in the dark.

The only light present was in his heart, strong and sure. It was the Will of Fire that was a story to joke about, the belief in the future that would be strong and everlasting helmed by Uzumaki Naruto and his spirit. As far as he had been concerned, it was a death without regret.

But then he woke up.

He woke up under soft blankets and with the seal yet to be on his forehead. He woke to his father rubbing his back, murmuring about a fever. He had cried for a solid hour and refused to let go.

He was alive. He was alive and his father was alive and everything was wrong, all wrong. Just after he had accepted, had come to terms with everything that was wrong with his life not being the end, it was going to happen _all over again._

Was he really going to experience it all again? His father dying, his beating by Naruto, this war? Was he just going to die fruitlessly saving the hero again? Much as he respected Naruto now, dying for him repeatedly was not on the agenda. He was determined to find another way, or maybe to end all of these things before they happened at all.

Though, that was in books. This was the reality of his situation. He was not going to be so lucky. That was the idea of the fallen Uchiha, a perfect world. At least, that was what he had read.

"Neji? Come."

His father's voice, soft and warm and caring, still alive, still present, drew him from the ball under his covers.

Perhaps he was dreaming. Perhaps whatever that Uchiha had been planning had worked and now, now he was in the infinite dream, dying but unable to pass on, cursed with this happy non-life where his father lived and everyone lived and everything was happy.

Except for Hinata-sama.

Hinata-sama was a timid toddler. She barely looked at him. That was nothing new before, and yet his father claimed that they got along reasonably well. And yet she avoided his gaze now, focusing more on the hems of her robes and not tripping over her own feet. In the past, (other world, dreams?) it had been more of a disappointment, an irritation, but now it was concerning and more than a little sad.

What was she afraid of him for now? She was the most normal person in the world so far. It was the most understandable behavior… in the least understandable situation. He avoided being cruel to her, avoided in fact, too much with her at all. Because now she was young and small and cherubic and within years she would go to war and bleed to death for Uzumaki Naruto.

Only, when he asked a clan member, apparently no one named Naruto existed.

… Maybe he was actually crazy.

"Neji?" His father's voice cut through his musings. "It's time."

Oh right. He was also being married to the youngest Uchiha, apparently. The very thought made Neji's body ache with memories. He remembered chasing the youngest Uchiha from being kidnapped, how it had failed by the Uchiha's own will, how he had led to that entire god damn war that was fully meant to kill everyone and all for the sake of killing one man.

Hell, Neji was starting to think he should find a way to kill Uchiha Itachi. That would be the polite thing to do. He didn't know what the man was actually playing at when he decided that he would be marrying the spare of the Uchiha clan, who was also a male. Wasn't that the opposite purpose of a marriage? Wasn't he supposed to have children? Perhaps they were adopting, or there was surrogacy? Or everyone expected Uchiha Sasuke to die? Why would they? Would there still be a massacre? Did they actually manage to create precognitive techniques?

Or maybe the massacre had been planned all along by someone and Uchiha Sasuke wasn't meant to survive.

… Oh god that was it wasn't it? That was _stupid._

Neji considered this all the way down the hall. When his father told him very sternly how he was to behave, each word flew over his head like a Naruto shadow clone. What, did he think he was going to hit the kid? He wasn't the sociopathic garbage he had started of as when they had met. None of the terrible things in his life had happened. Still, it was an Uchiha. The Uchiha had a place, a self, a way of being. Even young, like the Hyuuga, they possessed it. It was elitism, honestly.

He was old enough and young enough to recognize it, especially now. He was so enlightened that he felt like puking.

Neji entered a room that stank of lily incense. The candles all flickered in time to the movement of the door as it opened and closed. Neji looked around the room slowly. Inside was just a nearly ordinary girl, not Uchiha Sasuke with the failure to be controlled duck wing mane of hair, but a five-year-old girl with green ribbons and pale skin that looked only colorful because of the candles in the room.

She bowed, then knelt, then was prostrate on the floor, offering words of polite servitude, of marriage. And he couldn't believe it, he just _couldn't_.

He needed answers.

Saori, she said her name was Saori and she had Sasuke's sharp tongue but with more wit. Somehow more of a brain existed in that head and it was too much, too much for any one person to handle because this wasn't his past, this wasn't his world, where _was_ he?

Somewhere in that dizzy blackness, a hand, cool from sweat, nerves, and fear, brushed his forehead. "Perhaps this is a bad day." Her voice kept its even clip for some reason. He did not know why. "Perhaps your nerves are getting the better of you. I can… empathize."

There was something so wrong about hearing the very idea of empathy from the Uchiha. The few he had met before they were mercilessly slaughtered had all been stiff and unwelcome, locked up like birds in cages themselves. What empathy could she possibly have?

"However, if this is not successful it is likely you will suffer the consequences much more than I will."

To his own surprise, Neji let out a strangled laugh. Because she was right and he would and he did not god damn care right now.

"What can they do?" he said, voice low and ever so amused. "Kill me?"

"At least." Her voice was mild if a little quivery from horror. God, she was a child, what was he doing? "Or your dad."

"They're not that stupid," he said, laughter finally slowing. "My father and his brother look so much alike they need one to be able to keep the clan not looking like puppets of idiot Clouds and everything else."

Too much, he was being too talkative _what was wrong with him_ -

Then again, he hadn't slept properly in three days, at least. And he had also died… at some point.

Uchiha Saori lifted herself up and carried her small feet over to him. "Hyuuga Neji-san," she said, voice slow. "You are in the Hyuuga Compound, we are on almost six years since the recall of the Nine-Tailed Fox from captivity. We are at peace for the moment. Is there anything else I can tell you?"

The words were not grounding exactly, but they were a buoy in the middle of an ocean. Answers. Solid answers.

He managed to bob his head slowly. "Yes. So many. And I will… I will give you mine."

She raised an eyebrow. Neji supposed he deserved that.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** I'm so sorry for this delay, Neji is a useless narrator. We were supposed to be a lot farther than this but he angsted so damn hard we weren't getting anywhere, so I decided to stop it for the time being. Please continue with this massacre of a fanfiction, it really does mean a lot to me.


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